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Codex vs Prismata

Today’s blog article is something a little unusual in that I’m going to show off something that is not Prismata. Fellow game designer and MIT grad David Sirlin has Kickstarted Codex—his new strategy card game, and it’s a game that fans of Prismata might be interested in.

Like Prismata, Codex combines elements of RTS games, card games, and deckbuilding games. Unlike Prismata, it also has quite a bit of hidden information and randomness (including cards with explicit attributes like “flip a coin: if tails, this dies”), though not nearly as much as Hearthstone. If I had to describe the game in one sentence, it would be “asymmetric base+36 Prismata with one resource, where Drones cost 1, you can buy at most one Drone per turn, the combat is Hearthstone-style, and you must draw cards to buy them (with a Dominion-style deck cycling mechanic)”.

There are many other nuances (techs, heroes, spells, the patrol zone, add-ons, etc.) but the rules aren’t particularly difficult (I’d definitely say they’re much simpler than Magic: The Gathering!)

I’ve made a bit of a video summary below:

Like Lunarch Studios, Sirlin Games has taken a pretty strong stance against the pricing schemes of other card games. Instead of having to buy packs and collect chase rares to build the ultimate deck, Codex is a game in which players who buy the game always have access to all of their faction’s cards. Just like Prismata, Codex has absolutely no pay-to-win elements whatsoever.

We’re always very supportive of other companies that take this approach, which is why I’m very happy to give Codex a plug (not to mention that it’s a also really interesting and well-designed game!)

Here’s the link to their Kickstarter again. If you like Prismata, it’s definitely worth a look.

More blog content coming later this week (hint: animated skins are coming!)

About Elyot Grant

A former gold medalist in national competitions in both mathematics and computer science, Elyot has long refused to enjoy anything except video games. Elyot took more pride in winning the Reddit Starcraft Tournament than he did in earning the Computing Research Association's most prestigious research award in North America. Decried for wasting his talents, Elyot founded Lunarch Studios to pursue his true passion.